Practice, policies might not be in tune

Tuesday, June 20, 2006 | 2:23 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Nevada state prison policy provides that inmates pay no more than $8 to see a doctor and get test results - but prisoners' advocates say that is not the practice at some facilities.

The disagreement over policy-versus-practice is lingering in the aftermath of a legislative hearing earlier this month at which a public advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union said inmates at the women's prison in North Las Vegas are charged $8 to see a nurse or doctor and $16 to get test results.

Because many inmates do not have money, those costs stand in the way of prisoners receiving adequate health care, the ACLU's Lee Rowland said.

Although state prison officials at the hearing did not challenge Rowland's statement then, they later said that an $8 co-payment by inmates to see a doctor also covers the cost of additional visits to the doctor, any tests and prescription drugs.

Chuck Schardin, chief of medical fiscal services for the state Corrections Department, also stressed that inmates unable to afford the $8 payment still can schedule doctor visits. The $8 fee, he said, is covered by an inmate welfare fund that receives profits from the prison stores that sell products to inmates.

When inmates enter a prison, they are given a baseline physical free of charge that includes HIV testing, Pap smears and tests for other ailments.

Schardin said inmates with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes are assigned a special designation and receive free medical care .

Rowland said that may be the prison policy, but medical treatment at the women's prison "does not square with the policy."

In interviews with more than 100 inmates, ACLU officials were told that the women are charged $8 for a visit to a nurse, $8 more for a subsequent visit to a doctor and $16 to get test results, Rowland said.

Prison officials, however, dispute that account and insist that inmates' potential costs are capped at $8.